Flag-halyards cleat and carrier.



J. J. BUGKLEY. FLAG HALYARDS OLBAT AND GARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1912.

Patented May 6, 1913.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cO.,wASHlNGTON. D.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. BUCKLEY, 0F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 BUCKLEY AUTOMATICFLAG-POLE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FLAG-HALYARDS CLEAT AND OARRIER.

Serial No. 705,920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. BUoxLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and use ful Improvements in Flag-Halyards Cleats andCarriers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved cleat and carrier therefor forflag halyards, the same being particularly adapted to be used inconnection with pennants, flags and halyards for the same, whichhalyards are supported upon a rotary truck at the upper end of a flagpole. Said cleat is mount ed upon a carrier, which carrier is adapted tobe mounted upon said flag pole, and a spring is interposed between thecleat and its carrier which yields when the flag is blown by the windaround the flag pole, but which acts to push the cleat downwardly andstraighten out the halyards to bring the flag back from a twistedposition into a normal or straight position, and when there is a lull inthe wind, to allow the spring to act and thus bring the flag back to itsnormal position. Said cleat may be used in connection with a rotarycarrier or with the carrier rigidly fastened to the pole.

In putting my invention into practical use, it is preferable to have thehalyards extend over a sheave, the sheave being mounted on a rotarytruck at the upper end of the flag pole, while the cleat and its carrierforming the subject matter of this invention is located upon the flagpole below said rotary truck.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims thereof.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a side elevation of a flag polewith my improved cleat and its carrier mounted thereon, said flag polebeing illustrated as being provided with a rotary truck at its upper endand with a fiag and halyards supported upon said rotary truck. Fig. 2 isa plan View, partly in section, on an enlarged scale taken on line 22 ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.Fig. 4 is a detail sectional elevation of the cleat and a portion of therotary carrier. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of cleatand carrier, the carrier in this instance being adapted to be rigidlyfastened to the flag pole and having a single cleat mounted thereon,said carrier being shown attached to a portion of a flag pole.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings, referring to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, 10 is a fiagstaif;11 is a rotary member of a truck, the stationary member 12 of said truckbeing fastened to the top of the flag pole. A sheave 13 is rotatablymounted upon an arm 14 fast to said rotary member 11 and halyards 15extend over this sheave and are attached to a flag 16 in the usualmanner. The free ends of the halyards 15 are wound about a cleat 17 saidcleat also being provided preferably with an eye 18 through which one ofthe halyards extends. The cleat 17 has a rectangular stem 19 fastthereto and extending downwardly therefrom through a hole 20 formed inan ear 21 on the carrier 22. A spring 23 encircles the stem 19 and bearsat its upper end against the ear 21. -At its lower end it bears againsta collar 24 fastened by a nut 25 to the stem 19. A tube 26 is fastenedto the car 21 by screw-threaded engagement therewith and incloses thespring 23 and stem 19. It will be seen that as the collar 24 is fastenedto the stem 19 it forms, in effect, a part thereof, and that as the stemslides upwardly or downwardly relatively to the carrier 22, the squareportion of said stem 19 slides in the hole 20, while the collar 24slides in the tube 26 and in engagement therewith so that the stem 19 isguided at the top and bottom thereof to prevent any cramping in itsoperation. The carrier 22 is annular inform and has a plurality of ears21 thereon in each of which is slidably supported one of the cleats 17.Said annular carrier 22 is made in two parts, said parts being joinedtogether by screw 27 extending through ears 28 on said carrier. A seriesof rollers 29 are rotatably mounted upon studs 30 and 31 fast to theannular carrier 22, and these rollers are preferably conical in shapeand project into an annular groove 32 formed in the annular track 33.The annular track 33 is formed in two parts and is clamped by screws 34to the flag pole 10. An annular cap 35, made in two parts, is clamped tothe flag pole 10 by means of screws 36 and extends outwardly over anddownwardly adjacent to the upper edge of the Patented May 6, 1913.

annular carrier 22, thus forming a shield to protect the same as well asthe mechanism inclosed therein from the weather. A vane is preferablyattached to the rotary carrier 22 consisting of a head 37 and tail 33.The part 37 is fastened to the carrier by the stud 30 with which it hasscrew-threaded engagement. The part 38 has a stem 39 whichhasscrew-threaded engagement with the carrier 22, said part 38consisting of the stem 39 and a disk-shaped part 40. The disk 40 isvertically disposed and has diverging wings 411, 12, said wings beinglocated at the rear portion of the tail 38. The parts 37 and 38 of thevane are located on diametrically opposite sides of the carrier 22.

The object of the vane is to keep the carrier 22 and the cleat thereonin alinement with the rotary member of the truck 11, so that the vaneand the flag 16 being in alinement one with the other, under normalconditions the halyards 15 will be kept straight and the flag will floatin the direction of the wind straight out from the flag pole. It willfurther be noted that the arm 14; is of sufficient length to locate thesheave 13 at a substantial distance from the pole so that the flag willbe acted upon by the wind to keep the same distended and straightwithout interference, by reason of the pole preventing the wind havingthe full effect upon the flag to hold it in its extended position.Furthermore, the arm 14 being of substantial length, the rotary memberof the truck is easily moved by the wind when the same strikes againstthe flag 16. The vane is kept in alinement with the flag and, thereforeeach cleat is held in position in alinement, so that the halyards do notbecome twisted under normal conditions, and in order to make the vaneand the carrier 22, to which it is attached, highly sensitive to lightcur-,

rents of air and wind and in order that the same may be moved quickly tokeep in alinement with the flag and to keep the halyards from twisting,the disk 38 is split at the tail end of the vane and thus the disk 38 isbi furcated or provided with diverging wings at the rear end thereof,said wings intersecting preferably on a line between the center of thedisk and the carrier. These diverging wings catch the full force of thewind or assume a position at an angle approaching a right angle to thedirection of the wind much quicker than would be the case if the diskwere fiat throughout, so that for any change in the wind the vane isrendered much more sensitive by the diverging wings 41 and 42 than wouldbe the case if the disk, as a whole, were flat.

The general operation of the device hereinbefore specifically describedand illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, is as follows: Ashereinbefore set forth the flag is supported by means of the halyards 15upon a rotary truck at the top of the flag pole. The free ends of thehalyards 15 are attached to the cleat 17 in the usual manner. \Vhen theflag 16 is blown by the wind in a direction tending to wrap the samearound the flag pole, the truck 11 will rotate and the carrier 22 willalso be rotated through the halyards in the same direction as the truck11, so that under usual conditions the flag will always remain straightand pointing in the direction of the wind and will not become tangledwith the halyards or with the flag pole upon which it is supported. It,through an unusually heavy or abrupt gust of wind, the truck 11 shouldbe carried farther around on the pole than the carrier 22, that is, itsaid truck and the carrier should get out of alinement so as to partlytwist the halyards 15 around the pole 10, the cleat 17 would be pulledupwardly, compressing the spring 23 for a short space of time. As soon,however, as there came a lull in the wind, the spring 23 would expand,pulling the cleat downwardly and straightening out the halyards, so thatthe truck 11 and carrier 22 would again be in alinementcircumferentially with each other and the flag 16 would be in its normalposition relatively to said truck and carrier as well as the halyards15, 15. It will thus be seen that the 'ilag will always be blownstraight away from the flagstatl and not become coiled up on it and thesame will be true of the halyards 15, 15 through the combined action ofthe rotary truck and carrier and also through the action of the slidablymounted cleat.

In Fig. 5 a modified form of my invention is illustrated in which thecleat 17 is provided with a stem 19 surrounded by a spring 23 andoperated in substantially the same manner as that in which the cleatillustrated in Figs. 1 to 1 inclusive is operated. The carrier 13,however, upon which said cleat is mounted to slide embodies in itsconstruction a plate 4a which is rigidly fastened to the flag pole 10 byscrews. The rotary truck 11, the flag 16 and the halyards 15 are used incombination with this form of carrier and cleat in the mannerillustrated in Fig. 1.

The general operation of the device illustrated in Fig. 5 is as follows:When the wind causes the flag and its supporting truck 11 to rotatearound the flag pole 10, the halyards 15 are drawn upwardly and thus thecleat 17 is drawn upwardly in the same manner as hereinbefore described,and when the pressure of the wind is reduced upon the flag the spring 23draws the cleat downwardly, straightens the halyards 15 and causes thetruck 11 to resume its normal position in alinement with the cleat 17.Thus the flag will be held with the halyards in a substantially straightline, except momentarily, when said flag is subjected to extraordinarywind pressure.

It will be understood that, in addition to the functions hereinbeforeset forth as being performed by the spring-actuated cleat,in case thehalyards shrink, as they often do, the spring 23 will yield andcompensate for any shortening of the halyards due to this shrinking.This will prevent the pole from being bent or broken by the shrinking ofthe halyards and it will also prevent undue strain being brought to bearupon the halyards, whereby they are often broken, it being evident thatwhen such strain is brought to bear upon the halyards when 'my improvedcleat is utilized, the spring 23 will yield and compensate for any suchundue strain.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by LettersPatent to secure is:

1. In combination, a carrier adapted to be mounted upon a fiagstafl, acleat for flag halyards with a stem extending downwardly therefrom intosaid carrier, said stem slidable in said carrier, means to prevent saidstem from rotating on said carrier and a spring interposed between saidstem and carrier adapted to exert a downward pressure on said stem.

2. In combination, a carrier adapted to be mounted upon a flagstaff, atube fast to said carrier, a cleat for flag halyards, a stem extendingdownwardly from said cleat into said tube, a portion of said stem beingrectangular in cross section and having sliding engagement with saidcarrier and a spring encircling said stem, one end engaging said stem,the other end engaging said carrier.

3. In combination, a flagstaif, a carrier rotatably mounted thereon, acleat for flag halyards slidably mounted on said carrier and means tomove said cleat downwardly on said carrier.

4. In combination, a flagstaff, a carrier rotatably mounted thereon, acleat for flag halyards slidably mounted on said carrier, a springinterposed between said carrier and cleat and adapted to exert adownward pressure on said cleat and a vane. on said carrier.

5. In combination, a flagstafi, an annular track fast thereto, anannular carrier, a series of rolls rotatably mounted on said carrier andprojecting into an annular groove in said tract, a cleat slidablymounted on said carrier and a spring interposed between said cleat andcarrier adapted to exert a downward pressure on said cleat.

6. In combination, a flagstaff, an annular track fast thereto, anannular carrier, a series of rolls rotatably mounted on said carrier andprojecting into an annular groove in said track, a cleat slidablymounted on said carrier, a spring interposed between said cleat andcarrier adapted to exert a downward pressure on said cleat and anannular cap fast to said flagst-aif and extending over said track andcarrier.

7. In a device of the character described,

a carrier adapted to be rotatably mounted on a flagstaif, a cleat forhalyards mounted on said carrier and a vane fast to said carrier, saidvane comprising a vertically disposed disk, the rear portion of saiddisk consisting of two diverging wings. 8. In a device of the characterdescribed, a carrier adapted to be rotatably mounted on a fiagstaff, acleat for halyards mounted on said carrier and a vane fast to saidcarrier, said vane embodying in its construction two vertically disposeddiverging wings located at the rear end thereof.

9. In a device of the character described, a carrier adapted to berotatably mounted on a flagstafl', a cleat for halyards mounted on saidcarrier and a vane fast to said carrier, said vane embodying in itsconstruction a stem and a vertically disposed disk, the rear portion ofsaid disk separated into two diverging wings.

10. In a device of the character described, a carrier adapted to berotatably mounted on a fiagstafl, a cleat for halyards mounted on saidcarrier and a vane fast to said carrier, said vane embodying in itsconstruction a head and a tail portion located on diametrically oppositesides of said carrier, said tail portion consisting of a stem fast tosaid carrier and a vertically disposed disk, the rear portion of saiddiskseparated into two diverging wings.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN J. BUCKLEY. Witnesses:

CHARLES S. GooDINe, SYDNEY E. TAFT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

